doghousefandomcom-20200214-history
The Undercity
The Undercity Twice in the history of Darkwell, the entire city has been destroyed, with a new city built atop the old. This has resulted in a significant number of subterranean areas, still roughly organized into streets and buildings. In other words, a whole buried city—two, actually. Everyone knows about the Undercity. It’s not uncommon for the cellar of a surface structure to actually be the ground level of a buried building—complete with access to the underground street. Most of these have been boarded up or otherwise sealed (to prevent subterranean creatures from finding their ways into people’s homes). But if you look hard enough, it’s not that difficult to find a way into these old buried sections of Darkwell’s past. These unlit avenues tell a history of the city, of old wars and times of peace, too. Unfortunately, this is not a place for historians—the Undercity is fraught with danger. Bandits and other criminals make their secret lairs here, in the deep reaches where no one goes. Horrible beasts and monsters also wander the buried streets and the natural caverns to which they now connect. Even without the buried layers of urban settlement, the areas beneath Darkwell would still be honeycombed with natural passages, caves, and natural catacombs. Underground streams have carved through the rock here for thousands of years, producing limestone caverns and winding tunnels. Of course, the presence of the land of the dead deep below the surface here might have had some supernatural influence on their creation, as well. The Undercity is really two different places. There are the buried streets and natural caves (usually called the Catacombs), and there is the path down to the Shroud of Spirits, known most commonly as the Darkwalk. Catacombs Stretching out mostly beneath the Portal Ward, the subterranean streets of the buried cities connect to a vast series of natural tunnels, mainly under Spirit Hill, but extending far to the south. The buried streets are usually about fifteen or twenty feet wide but only about ten feet high (in some places, they are much lower than that). Rubble lies everywhere, often completely choking off a passage. The streets are winding and difficult to predict (particularly since collapsed or blocked areas are common). Most of the old buildings are filled with rubble or are completely collapsed. A few, however, are open. While some of these serve as basements and cellars for structures above, most are completely sealed off from the surface—man-made caves. These make excellent hideouts for gangs and criminals. Headquarters of the Half Hands The Half Hands, the city’s primary thieves’ guild, keeps its headquarters in the buried city. They use what was once an entire city block, including a tavern, a number of houses, and a school. The thieves use these buildings much as they were originally intended—as homes, as a gathering place, and as a training facility. The tavern is still operational under its “new management” and is now called Onethumb’s Place, named for its proprietor, “Onethumb” Mugree (male halfling). The tavern has an attached theater where the Half Hands holds formal guild meetings. The school is used to train young thieves. A large sampling of locks, traps, and other devices are there to practice upon, as well as trainers who test their charges’ lockpicking, listening, and sneaking skills. The Darkwalk Below Darkwell there is an underground path that was ancient before the city was first built—a path known around the world as the Darkwalk. It was well worn when the now-buried buildings of the first city were shining and new—and it is still functioning and in good repair centuries after those same buildings crumbled and were buried from living memory. More ancient than the Grand Portal that serves as its entry, the Darkwalk leads from the surface world—the world of the living— to the land of the dead. It passes through collapsed abandoned streets and natural caves, but it also passes through corridors and huge chambers whose architects remain a complete and utter mystery. It is possible that the Deathwarden dwarves created these places—created the Darkwalk path itself—but no one knows for sure. For their part, the dwarves do not give any indication one way or the other. In fact, the Deathwarden dwarves steadfastly refuse to discuss with outsiders any of the details pertaining to the Darkwalk. The Deathwarden Dwarves The Deathwarden dwarves are truly the key to the enigma of the Darkwalk, and perhaps to the secrets of the land of the dead itself. Most folk in Darkwell will never see Deathwarden dwarves unless they go near the Grand Portal—where the dwarves gather to escort dead bodies down to the Shroud of Spirits. This journey takes about three days, for the Shroud of Spirits is very deep underground. The way is fraught with danger; various forces wait in ambush. From time to time, when activity along the Darkwalk is particularly heavy, the Deathwarden dwarves hire adventurers or mercenaries to help them guard their “cargo.” The Deathwarden dwarves seem to have a very good sense of when there is danger on the Darkwalk and when there is not. People who develop a rapport with the dwarves (quite a difficult task—it takes years for an outsider to prove his or her reliability to the Deathwarden dwarves) use them to gather information regarding current goings-on in the Undercity as a whole. Members of the Guild of Morticians manage when (and which) bodies are brought to the Grand Portal and take their “charges” only just that far. At the Grand Portal, the dead are placed into the Deathwarden dwarves’ care. This is where friends and family (if any) pay their last respects. The dwarves, as always, are acutely respectful of the dead and of the mourning of loved ones. Although some have described the Deathwarden dwarves as cold, it would perhaps be more accurate to simply say “somber,” or even just “dedicated.” The dwarves pull narrow carts on which they arrange the dead bodies as reverently as possible. These carts have iron wheels and flexible axles, making them very efficient for moving underground. The passages, tunnels, and caves that make up the Darkwalk, however, are usually wide and clear of debris, so the carts can move along easily. When a cave in happens, the dwarves are quick to repair it or devise an alternate route. The Shroud of Spirits The gatehouse known as the Shroud of Spirits is actually a vast underground fortress, home to hundreds of Deathwarden dwarves. The Shroud of Spirits is shaped like a horseshoe, with the entrance on the inside of the curve. The back end of the curve is built into a huge stone wall, beyond which lies the land of the dead. Once through the well-guarded entrance, a Darkwalk caravan takes its cargo into the Moribund Passage, a long hall, 80 feet wide, lined with statues of heroes, kings, queens, and other people of import— all dead and all having passed through the Shroud of Spirits (both in body and spirit). Here, a great many ghosts pause, not quite ready to make the final passage through the Shroud. These ghosts sometimes spend days or even weeks here, chatting with each other and the Deathwarden dwarves that pass through. They are obviously nervous about going to the lands of the dead—they know that after they enter, they cannot come back. Once through the Moribund Hall, characters come to the Shroud of Spirits itself. Within a great stone arch, it seems as though the well-crafted dwarven walls simply give way to a natural rock passage filled with mist. Two Deathwarden dwarves stand at the point where the walls end and warn the living, “If you pass through the Veil, you will never return.” Nevertheless, the dwarves themselves pull their carts through into the mist. They never ask any hired hands to perform this task. No one knows what lies beyond. Presumably, the dwarves come back after unloading their cargo— people in Darkwell have seen (and talked to) the same members of the Deathwarden clan at the start of dozens of separate trips down the Darkwalk. But none of the adventurers or mercenaries who have helped on the journey have ever seen anyone walk back out from beyond the Shroud. The rest of the fortress is a sweeping structure of tall, finely crafted chambers lit by ever-burning magical torches. Although they appear to have actual flames on their ends, these torches consume no oxygen and cannot be used to start fires. There are large banquet halls and meeting rooms throughout the structure, but there never seem to be festivals or meetings. It is a very quiet place, akin to a mortuary; in truth, that’s what it is, for the Deathwarden dwarves are really the ultimate morticians (not to imply that they have any direct relationship with the Guild of Morticians in the city above). The dwarves have their own almost completely self-sustaining community here. The Shroud of Spirits is a city unto itself. It has its own water supply and its own food supply (the dwarves farm edible fungus, although they prefer food from the surface when they can get it). Deathwarden craftspeople fashion beautiful but somber stone and metal objects here, although, for obvious reasons, wood is quite scarce. The dwarves seem content to carry out their duty and live their lives here, at the edge of death itself.